Farriers Boone NC

This page provides relevant content and local businesses that can help with your search for information on Farriers. You will find informative articles about Farriers, including "Shoe for Rough Ground". Below you will also find local businesses that may provide the products or services you are looking for. Please scroll down to find the local resources in Boone, NC that can help answer your questions about Farriers.

Shoe for Rough Ground

BY JENNIFER ZEHNDER • PHOTOS BY TED SHANKS

These four tips will help ensure your horse remains steady and sound over rocky terrain.

SHOE CLIPSUnfortunately, says Shanks, clips received a bad rap from veterinarians back in the 1980s. At that time, not all farriers understood the science of applying the devices, and the technique remains a fear factor for most. Shanks and Teves prefer a handmade clip with a thicker base to the thin clips included on most factory shoes. Handmade clips “get in” the hoof to a small degree, rather than resting outside the hoof. The farriers burn, rather than hammer, clips into the hoof, and prefer to use quarter clips, which are located in the vicinity of the first and second nail holes on a hoof. This strategic setting keeps the shoe from being driven back. GOOD NAILSIt’s not always technique, but rather the location of the nail holes in a shoe that determine whether a nail “seats” well, Shanks says. Not only is finding a shoe that fits important for soundness, but so is finding one that has nail holes that meet a horse’s individual contours. A shoe with a nail hole close to the outside edge of the hoof is counter-productive for a horse with a low-angle hoof or steep hoof walls, Shanks says. When in doubt, farriers should build a shoe and punch their own holes for a truly custom fit.

PROPER FITIll-fitting shoes work against your horse in rough terrain, exposing him to shoe loss, hoof damage and lameness. Manufactured horseshoes are available in hundreds of styles, sizes and weights, and farriers can also forge their own should ready-made products fail to provide the proper fit. The key is to purchase or build shoes that remain well-fit weeks after the final nail has been clenched, Teves says. Beveling the rough edges on each shoe further reduces snags.

POUR-IN PADSPads are the most common treatment for a tender- or sore-footed horse, and are also used to prevent soreness and injury. In rough country, h...

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